Pablo Lauf

Born in 1989 in Munich (Germany)
Lives and works in Berlin (Germany)

In 2016 Pablo Lauf graduated from Ostkreuz Schule, which is connected to Ostkreuz- Agentur der Fotografen, a photography agency that focuses on documentary and art photography in Berlin. Lauf has participated in several group exhibitions including: ‘AABER Art Award’ in Munich (2012); ‘Ostkreuzschule Rundgang’ in Berlin (2014-15); and ‘Perspectives From Contemporary Pakistan’ at HAU- Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin (2016). His recent work, Birds of Karachi was displayed at the Unseen photography fair in Amsterdam, in 2017. His first solo exhibition will take place at the Goethe-Institut Pakistan in December 2017.

Pablo Lauf writes of his photographs on view at KB17: “In my dreams I often find myself in strange surroundings: Empty cities, family houses, streets that seem as if they were disconnected from time. There is no one except for me, but still, those surreal rooms I explore do not seem deserted. It feels as if I slip into another layer of reality, roaming through transcendental worlds just like a ghost. One night in 2014, when I hiked in the remote mountain areas between Austria, Italy and Switzerland, I found myself in a small mountain village that made me feel as if I were dreaming awake. The sensation that overcame me while I wandered through its narrow alleys was very familiar to me. I just had never experienced something similar in my waking moments. I lost myself in a labyrinth hidden from the rest of the world by a thick, impenetrable curtain of darkness. I got carried away by the overwhelming silence of the night that was only interrupted by the buzzing noise of electricity that followed my every step. It felt as if time had stopped.”